Three months ago, it looked like a virtual certainty that Jose Calderon would not be back with the Toronto Raptors. Now his return looks all but ensured after a hamstring injury knocked him out of the FIBA World Championships that begin this Saturday. However, before all you Raptors fans begin sticking needles in your eyes, consider that this might not be such a bad thing for a club looking to hand their immediate future to a collection of athletic finishers who all have trouble creating their own offence. Having a guy who knows how to get players the ball in their best spots might be just what the team needed (if for no other reason than to boost Calderon's trade value into a meaningful territory, but fortunately there are other reasons).

When Bryan Colangelo pledged to remove one of his point guards at the conclusion of last season, the circumstances around the team were significantly different. The team could afford to lose one of them because Turkgolu was a quality playmaking option and in need of more minutes at the point. In truth, the glut Colangelo was trying to ease was not between Calderon and Jack, two players that don't really play the position in the same way at all, so much as it was to open more point guard duties for Turkoglu before he demanded a trade out of town. Going into the summer, Calderon represented a lot of skill duplication with eroding defensive abilities. Without a go-to offensive force like Bosh to dictate the tone of the offence this year, though, quality playmaking has to step-in to fill the void, meaning Calderon suddenly has a purpose on the Raptors again. While Jarrett Jack excels in several areas, he's never averaged more than 5.3 assists-per-game in a season, let alone anything close to the 8.6 assists Calderon averaged over the two seasons spanning 2007-2009. A trade may still well be in Calderon's future, perhaps even his near future, but it says here that if he winds up reporting to training camp as a Raptor, the club will have plenty of reasons to be happy about it. He didn't fit well into the team's structure last season, but this is a new year with new needs. Don't forget, too, that just because Calderon didn't get traded this summer, doesn't mean he can't get traded during the season or next summer without losing the same long-term financial benefits many were (somewhat arbitrarily) hoping for this summer.

Hopefully he can come back fresh and take a play-making/shooting role off of the bench. The new/young players can use his play-making skills and if Derozan/Weems/Johnson/Davis get inside consistently they can kick it out to Calderon for open shots. Let hope Davis' help defence takes into effect to nullify Calderon's allowed penetration.

I always thought that keeping Calderon won't be the worst thing ever. I mean we don't have any real good point guard backups and we have guys that really can't create their own offense so it is still a plus for keeping Calderon.

I always thought that keeping Calderon won't be the worst thing ever. I mean we don't have any real good point guard backups and we have guys that really can't create their own offense so it is still a plus for keeping Calderon.

Actually probably because of put backs Johnson had a lower field goals "assisted" percentage last season than Bargnani did. On the other hand as you will see from the stats below Johnson had a higher percentage of his FG assisted than other PF who score mostly on inside. It seems to me that that is because he gets a lot higher percentage of his FGs on assisted plays like run outs, alley-oops, pick and roll than do the other PF/C who score more in the paint than on jump shots.

So the pattern that is developing here is that PF/C who shoots a lot of three balls have a substantially higher percentage of their shots assisted than the PF/C who scores most of his points in the paint.
So if anyone will need Calderon's help in 10-11 it will be Bargnani more so than Johnson

yea the best thing for a run n gun offense is a pg with a injury prone leg which disables him from running fast.

Say what?

Davis rebounds the ball throws it to mid-court to Calderon who didn't have to go too far to get there from his position on defense on the prior play. Calderon takes two quick dribbles and while looking at Jack on the bench throws a perfect 40 foot alley-oop pass.

Unfortunately the Raptors don't score as Amir, Sonny and DeMar all leap at the same time and in the same place for the pass, Their faces smash against the rim, their bodies collide and they crash to the hardwood. Thus ending forever the myth that is the YGZ®

yea the best thing for a run n gun offense is a pg with a injury prone leg which disables him from running fast.

Let's try an experiment. You run down the court and I'll throw a basket-ball, and we'll see who gets to the other baseline the fastest. If you running a fast break you need your receivers to run fast. All the pg has to do is pass the ball. It sounds easy but making a long pass is harder than just hucking it down the court. fortunately jose is an above average passer. He doesn't need to beat his man or anyone else's man down the court. He just needs his wings to do that and pass ball. He's penchant for too many dribbles is a bigger problem than his quickness.

"We only have one rule on this team. What is that rule? E.L.E. That's right's, E.L.E, and what does E.L.E. stand for? EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. Right there up on the wall, because this isn't just a basketball team, this is a lifestyle. ~ Jackie Moon

hahaha here we go again. im waiting on what sleepz and sirchilly are going to say.
maybe you guys will find a way to link calderon's injured leg to BC's mismanagement of the raptors

tbihis don't worry it will not take long; they probably have not woken up as yet. You definitely nailed the sam guys that find and blame every flaw on B.C or Bargnani while praising Sir Douchebag himself the almighty RuPaul.

Let's try an experiment. You run down the court and I'll throw a basket-ball, and we'll see who gets to the other baseline the fastest. If you running a fast break you need your receivers to run fast. All the pg has to do is pass the ball. It sounds easy but making a long pass is harder than just hucking it down the court. fortunately jose is an above average passer. He doesn't need to beat his man or anyone else's man down the court. He just needs his wings to do that and pass ball. He's penchant for too many dribbles is a bigger problem than his quickness.

This article echoes my sentiments exactly, even Amir/Davis playing C unless they have to guard someone bigger like D12 or Bynum.

The reason we could afford to trade one of the PGs isn't because they didn't work out backing each other up, but because we needed to have Hedo handle the ball. With no Hedo, we need both Calderon and Jack to run things. And unless we get a better starter on any position in return, I wouldn't want to trade Calderon. And to have better defensive capabilities than Jose, and come close to his playmaking abilities and offensive efficiency, that guy coming back will have to be borderline all-star, if not all-star.

Let's try an experiment. You run down the court and I'll throw a basket-ball, and we'll see who gets to the other baseline the fastest. If you running a fast break you need your receivers to run fast. All the pg has to do is pass the ball. It sounds easy but making a long pass is harder than just hucking it down the court. fortunately jose is an above average passer. He doesn't need to beat his man or anyone else's man down the court. He just needs his wings to do that and pass ball. He's penchant for too many dribbles is a bigger problem than his quickness.

It seems to me to depend on who you are talking about

If it is Kevin Love then making that long pass is easier

If it is Amir then running down the court is easier

P.S. I don't know that the term "hucking" works in your sentence

To huck is to throw oneself widely up in the air and/or off something.

Let's try an experiment. You run down the court and I'll throw a basket-ball, and we'll see who gets to the other baseline the fastest. If you running a fast break you need your receivers to run fast. All the pg has to do is pass the ball. It sounds easy but making a long pass is harder than just hucking it down the court. fortunately jose is an above average passer. He doesn't need to beat his man or anyone else's man down the court. He just needs his wings to do that and pass ball. He's penchant for too many dribbles is a bigger problem than his quickness.

would you agree long passes have a much higher rate of being intercepted ?

teams have scouting reports. and sooner than later, coaches will tell their players to look out for that long half court pass and we will be turning it over more.

tbihis don't worry it will not take long; they probably have not woken up as yet. You definitely nailed the sam guys that find and blame every flaw on B.C or Bargnani while praising Sir Douchebag himself the almighty RuPaul.